Mail Online :A massive truck bomb at a Turkish police station has killed six and injured 39 after being detonated by Kurdish rebels who then attacked with guns and rocket launchers.Civilians including a five-month-old baby were among those who died in the attack, which happened outside a police base in the southeastern town of Cinar in the mostly Kurdish Diyarbakir province last night.The bombing targeted police lodgings located at the building but the force of the blast – from 1.5tonnes of explosives – caused a house close to the station to collapse. The attack killed two people at the police lodgings and three people died inside the collapsed house. The Dogan news agency said the dead included the wife of a policeman and a five-month-old baby. Another police station was attacked with rocket launchers in Midyat town, in the province of Mardin in what appeared to be a simultaneous assault, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. No casualties were reported there.The blast ripped the facade off the building caused extensive damage to the surrounding area, smashing windows, mangling shop shutters and littering the streets with debris.’It was a really loud blast, as if it was in our house,’ said Ali Devran, a resident in his 30s near the scene. ‘We went and helped carry the wounded to ambulances. Some suffered burns.’A security source said 1.5 tonnes of explosives were used in the blast. Rescue workers continued to search for bodies at the scene, where ambulances remained on standby.Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus condemned the attack as ‘treacherous’ on his Twitter account. Coinciding with the bomb attack, PKK fighters opened fire with rifles on a nearby security complex, triggering a firefight, but no casualties were reported, the statement said.The relatives of two police officers were killed in the attack, along with three people whose bodies were pulled from the wreckage, it added. Six police officers were among the wounded being treated in nearby hospitals. The governor’s office said the security forces responded to the attack, but it was not clear if there were any casualties among the rebels.The attack came a day after a suicide bomber set off an explosion in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district, just steps away from the landmark Blue Mosque, killing 10 German tourists. Turkish officials say the bomber, a Syrian born in 1988, was affiliated with the Islamic State group. Clashes between Turkey’s security forces and the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, reignited in July, shattering a fragile peace process.Authorities have since imposed extended curfews in flashpoint neighborhoods and towns in the mainly Kurdish-populated southeast region of the country as the security forces battle Kurdish militants who are linked to the PKK. Those militants have mounted barricades, dug trenches and set up explosives to keep authorities away. The operations have resulted in more than a hundred civilian casualties, and displaced thousands, human rights groups say.The conflict between the government forces and the PKK has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984. The group is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its western allies.
